'Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?' — Trump quips to Japan PM after question over Iran war
President Trump says element of surprise was key when asked about US-Israeli attacks on Iran, during meeting with Sanae Takaichi at White House.
President Donald Trump has drawn a parallel between US strikes on Iran and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor decades ago, as he defended the US-Israel war against Tehran at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington.
"Well, one thing, you don't want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?" Trump said on Thursday when a journalist asked why he had not told allies about his war plans.
"Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor, ok? Right? He's asking me — no, you believe in surprise, I think much more so than us."
Trump said the US-Israeli attacks achieved far more than anticipated in the first two days, knocking out roughly "50 percent of our target."
"So, if I go and tell everybody about it is no longer a surprise, right?".
Takaichi's eyes widened and she shifted in her chair as Trump, seated beside her in the Oval Office, evoked the moment that drew the US into World War Two.
The Japanese attack on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, killed 2,390 Americans, and the US declared war on Japan the next day.
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it "a date which will live in infamy."
The US defeated Japan in August 1945, days after US atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.
$200 billion for weapons
Trump also confirmed that he may seek $200 billion in new Pentagon funding, calling it a "small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top."
He denied that US is running out of weapons.
"We want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in... We’re asking for a lot of reasons, beyond even what we’re talking about in Iran. Munitions in particular, at the high end we have a lot, but we’re preserving it."
Trump also claimed that Japan is offering tremendous support to US on Iran war "unlike NATO".
"We’ve had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything... And I believe that, based on statements that were given to us yesterday, the day before yesterday, having to do with Japan, they are really stepping up to the plate... unlike NATO," he said.
"In the case of NATO, they don’t want to help us defend the Strait (Strait of Hormuz) and they’re the ones that need it. But now they’re getting much nicer, because they’re seeing my attitude … but it’s, as far as I’m concerned, it’s too late."